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Commodities: Gold hits record high; Oil services: Halliburton earnings boom; Euro banks: Exposed to sovereign debt; Music: Spotify launches in the U.S.; Internet: Google’s profits up

Commodities: Gold hits record high

The price of gold hit a record high of $1,600 per ounce this week as investors scrambled to find a safe haven from U.S. default fears and continued difficulties in the eurozone. Investors consider the metal an “age-old stalwart in troubled times,” said Aaron Smith in CNNMoney.com, and that sentiment has caused its price to more than double since December 2008. Gold makes sense as a hedge against market uncertainty, but part of its allure is surely emotional, said Clayton Collins in CSMonitor.com. During hard times, its “comforting weight” leads the human psyche to be “almost instinctually bullish on bullion.”

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